University of Utah researchers just released findings of a distracted driver study using cars with Internet access allowing watching of videos, texting and emailing.

According to an article about the study in the Chicago Tribune, the study found drivers remain distracted up to 27 seconds after sending an email or text.

The article notes the irony of navigation systems making travel safer while featuring technology that makes it much more dangerous.

Corporations reportedly will lead the charge against using these technologies by having employees pledge not to use them while driving on company business.

The first edition of Interpersonal Divide was among the first books to note the dangers of distracted driving due to cell phone use.

The new edition goes into depth about the phenomenon, as this excerpt illustrates:

Users steeped in virtual environments become immune to the dangers of the real world, as evidenced by statistics associated with distracted driving. Between the years 2010-2012, the number of people killed in automobile crashes due to distracted driving averaged about 3,300 per year. In particular, 10 percent of all drivers under the age of 20 who died in crashes were distracted at the time of the crash.  The official government site, distraction.gov, also reports that at any given moment in America, some 660,000 drivers “are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving, a number that has held steady since 2010.”

Ironically, the prospect of driver-less cars may be the only solution to the addiction that so many face, using Internet  in vehicles with navigational systems mapping destinations never reached–not by intention–but by accidents.

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